Yes, it is 9:00 AM on a Saturday and I am writing a blog entry and yes I'm a nerd.  But I get these random thoughts at odd hours and I like to write them down as I get them...wanna hear it?  Hear it go:

For those that don't know, the first company I started was X-Marketing.  I originally started this company to provide branding strategy and marketing plan implementation to small businesses.  I was warned by a marketing professor at Villanova not to do that - "Small businesses don't have money but they need a lot of help" he said...BOY was he right!!!!!  For three years, we struggled to find viable small business clients that could be profitable to work with.  "We'll grow as they grow" was the plan.  We worked basically for free with companies that a lot of promise but would not spend money.  Again, I stress - you have to spend money to make money!

Throughout this period, we were providing patient education services to one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world.  These patient education services that we provided were always "the other thing" that we did...LOL.  Imagine 110% of your revenue coming from the "red-headed step child" - no offense to red-headed step children. 

We finally got a break one day and we landed a commercial cleaning company as a client.  They were a sizeable company with over $15 million in revenue.  They were looking to rebrand themselves and hired us to develop the strategy.  For the next 6-8 months, we underwent a MAJOR market research project to understand the commercial cleaning market, the trends, and the consumers.  We developed what I consider a couple innovative branding strategies that we thought could really take them to the next level. 

Probably one of the best books on branding that I have ever read was The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Laura and Al Ries.  The most important concept in the book is that more focused the brand, the more powerful the brand.  As we worked on this project for the commercial cleaning company, we looked at our own brand.  We created a couple branding options that had a clear and narrow focus.  We, on the other hand, provided ALL sorts of marketing services:  market research, branding strategy, graphic design, web design, advertising...the list went on.  We offered to companies in any industry that we could get our hands on.  We offered to companies of all sizes.  The branding strategy company NEEDED TO EXAMINE ITS OWN BRAND! 

Then we looked at what we provided to the pharmaceutical company.  It was a service that relatively few companies offered, it fit in well with current trends in healthcare, and we had instant credibility from the work we had done with our current client.  WHY WAS PATIENT EDUCATION "THE OTHER" SERVICE THAT WE PROVIDED THAT WE RARELY TALKED ABOUT?  This doesn't make sense we said to ourselves...yes, I said we.  We met as a team on this.  Read Power of the People to see why I believe this part is so important.

Then we looked at our current brand, X-Marketing, and realized that this brand did not fit in with patient education.  Thus, CTE Heathcare Communications was born.  CTE stands for "Caring Through Education".  CTE now ONLY focuses on providing patient and caregiver educational resources in partnership with the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.  The brand is only about 8  months old, but the new brand has already opened quite a few doors that would not have been open to us as X-Marketing.  The rebranding effort was a BEAR!  Changing e-mails, voicemails, websites, mission statements...but it was a change that I think saved the business.  Our goal for 2008 was to earn $2 million for the first time, and I think there is a good chance that we will hit that goal...check back with me in January of 2009.  But if we do hit that number, I can say this with almost 100% certainty - WE WOULD NOT HAVE HIT THIS NUMBER AS X-MARKETING.  

The new focus of the brand has changed EVERYTHING.  I know EXACTLY who I am looking to sell to right down to the position in the company.  I know EXACTLY what I am selling - I don't have 15 services to try and sell.  My employees have renewed optimism because they see a direction now - which we did not have before.  We pulled this rebranding effort took about 6 months to complete.  I just filed the paperwork to disolve the X-Marketing name and that is the last remnance of our old identity.  

I can't say for sure if or how successful we will be - I'll say I'm trying my hardest to have CTE make an impact both financially and socially.  You are coming into the story on the ground floor - so this blog will be like a reality show over the next few months.  Stay tuned to see who gets voted off!  

READ The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding!!!!!  I cannot stress that enough.  It has had a big part in shaping how I look at business strategy and marketing in general.  It is time for me to go - so until next time!